Tom & Jerry

Tom and Jerry were an animated cat (Tom) and mouse (Jerry) team who formed the basis of a massively successful series of theatrical short animated films created, written and directed by animators William Hanna and Joseph Barbera (later of Hanna-Barbera fame). more...

The series was produced by Hollywood studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer from 1940 until 1958, when the studio's animation unit was closed down. MGM, in 1960, outsourced the production of Tom and Jerry to Rembrandt Films (led by Gene Deitch) in Eastern Europe. In 1963, production of Tom and Jerry shorts returned to Hollywood with Chuck Jones' Sib-Tower 12 Productions; this series lasted until 1967. Tom and Jerry later resurfaced in TV cartoons produced by Hanna-Barbera (1975 - 1977; 1990 - 1993) and Filmation Studios (1980 - 1982). The original Hanna-Barbera shorts are notable for having won seven Academy Awards, tying it with Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies as the most-awarded theatrical animated series.

Plot and format

The plots of each short usually center on Tom's frustrated attempts to catch Jerry, and the mayhem and destruction that ensues. Because they seem to get along in some cartoon shorts (at least in the first minute or so), it is unclear why Tom chases Jerry so much, but some reasons given may include:

• normal feline hunger
• his duty according to his owner (often it is Tom's job, as a house cat, to catch mice and failure would equal eviction)
• the simple enjoyment of tormenting him
• revenge
• a misunderstanding (especially in shorts that start with them ambivalent or friendly to each other)
• a conflict when both of them want the same thing (usually food)
• a need to have Jerry out of the way
• a game enjoyed by both of them

Tom rarely succeeds in defeating Jerry, mainly because of Jerry's craftiness and cunning, but sometimes because of Tom's own stupidity. Tom usually only beats Jerry when Jerry becomes the instigator or crosses some sort of line; Jerry's cunning comes from being on the defensive (much like Bugs Bunny). The shorts are famous for using some of the most destructive and violent gags ever devised for theatrical animation: Jerry slicing Tom in half, Tom using everything from axes, pistols, rifles, dynamite, and poison to try and murder Jerry, Jerry stuffing Tom's tail in a waffle iron, and so on. The Simpsons's "cartoon-within-a-cartoon", Itchy and Scratchy, mercilessly parodies the violence of Tom and Jerry by featuring even more extreme violence (and also blood).

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